SAP S/4HANA 1709 – Part III – changes in CO-PA
Updated: Oct 6, 2019
SAP S/4HANA 1709 – changes in CO-PA
In the previous post, we had gone through some of the changes in various areas. But there is one specific change which impacts FI/CO guys as this change relates to CO-PA i.e. Profitability Analysis. Lets see what has changed and how it will affect us.
Changes to Profitability Analysis in Controlling Module
Storage and Numbering of Profitability Segments
The way in which profitability segments are stored and numbered in the system has been modified. A separate type of profitability segment is now stored in table CE4XXXX_ACCT (XXXX denotes the operating concern). Just as with the profitability segments in table CE4XXXX, those in table CE4XXXX_ACCT assign a unique number to each combination of characteristic values. However, in table CE4XXXX_ACCT a new number is assigned for each new business process. Furthermore, characteristic summarization is not applied to this table.
Additional Details
Profitability segments contain a combination of characteristic values for a business process to be posted. Each of these combinations is assigned a unique number which is used throughout the system to transfer this information, for example from a billing document to Accounting. The assignment between profitability segment numbers and the corresponding characteristic values is stored in table CE4XXXX, where XXXX denotes the operating concern.
Up to and including SAP S/4HANA 1610, the profitability segment numbers are reused. That is, if two business processes are assigned to the same combination of characteristic values, only one entry is created in table CE4XXXX and the same profitability segment number is used by both processes.
One drawback of this solution is that it can degrade performance in systems containing large amounts of data because each new business process attempting to assign a profitability segment number for its characteristic values has to read table CE4XXXX to determine if this combination already exists or if a new profitability segment number needs to be assigned. Another drawback is that characteristic summarization (transaction KEQ7) is applied to table CE4XXXX such that information sometimes gets lost unexpectedly in a business process if a characteristic is summarized.
Therefore, starting with SAP S/4HANA 1709, an additional type of profitability segment is (re-)introduced (see SAP Note 199467). These profitability segments are stored in table CE4XXXX_ACCT. Just as with the profitability segments in table CE4XXXX, those in table CE4XXXX_ACCT assign a unique number to each combination of characteristic values. The difference is as follows:
In table CE4XXXX_ACCT, a new number is assigned for each new business process instead of reusing the existing numbers
Characteristic summarization is not applied to table CE4XXXX_ACCT
Profitability segments are created in table CE4XXXX_ACCT if you are using account-based profitability analysis, which is the default in SAP S/4HANA. If you are using costing-based profitability analysis in addition, a (reused and summarized) profitability segment is created in table CE4XXXX for each of the profitability segments in table CE4XXXX_ACCT. The tables are linked via field CE4KEY in table CE4XXXX_ACCT which contains the profitability segment number of table CE4XXXX. This is for compatibility reasons. If you are using only account-based profitability analysis, in most cases only profitability segments in table CE4XXXX_ACCT are created.
Note that there are three cases in account-based profitability analysis where profitability segments are created only in table CE4XXXX:
Cost center assessment to profitability analysis
Top-down-distribution
Classical planning functionality like transaction KEPM (Planning Framework) or plan cost center assessment to profitability analysis (not valid for Integrated Business Planning)
Classical planning functionality like transaction KEPM (Planning Framework) or plan cost center assessment to profitability analysis (not valid for Integrated Business Planning)
Effects on Existing Data
Previously, data was read using a join between profitability segment table CE4XXXX and CO actual line item table COEP (which in SAP S/4HANA is a so-called compatibility view that redirects the select to table ACDOCA internally). For new actual data, only profitability segments in table CE4XXXX_ACCT are created in most cases. Reading data solely from table CE4XXXX, without considering CE4XXXX_ACCT, will thus lead to incomplete or inconsistent results.
Reading account-based actual data may need to be adapted in customer-owned programs.
Therefore, all standard functionality in SAP S/4HANA 1709 reads account-based actual data directly from G/L line item table ACDOCA, since this table also contains the characteristic values and thus renders a join unnecessary.
There may however be customer-owned programs that read account-based data via the join on table CE4XXXX and COEP, either by performing a direct select or by using the classical read interface of function module RKE_READ_OBJECTS (can be displayed using transaction SE37).
Hence in SAP S/4HANA 1709, any such customer-owned programs need to be adapted so that they select their data directly from G/L line item table ACDOCA or by using standard read modules of profitability analysis.
Note that function module RKE_READ_OBJECTS will lead to a short dump when trying to select actual account-based data.
Note
Customer-owned programs may need to be adapted. See below under Effects on Existing Data.
What Next?
We will try to continue this series of post to identify what changes/improvements are introduced by SAP in the new release S/4 HANA 1709.
#ProfitabilitySegment #S4HANA #HANA2 #COPA #SAPNewRelase #S4HANA1709 #SAPNewVariantConfiguration #SAPCO #SAPS4HANA1709 #ResourceScheduling #MaintenanceOperations #SAPLeonardo #SAPHANA2 #SAPCOPA #SAPS4HANA #EHS #COPA #SAP